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http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/illegals_self_deport/2007/12/23/59416.html
Illegal Immigrants Self Deport as Woes Mount
Sunday, December 23, 2007
PHOENIX -- Mexican illegal immigrant Lindi sat down with her husband Marco
Antonio in the weeks before Christmas to decide when to go back to Mexico.
She has spent three years working as a hairdresser in and around Phoenix,
but now she figures it is time to go back to her hometown of Aguascalientes
in central Mexico.
"The situation has got so tough that there don't seem to be many options
left for us," Lindi, who asked for her last name not to be used, told
Reuters.
The couple are among a growing number of illegal immigrants across the
United States who are starting to pack their bags and move on as a crackdown
on undocumented immigrants widens and the U.S. economy slows, turning a
traditional Christmas trek home into a one-way trip.
In the past year, U.S. immigration police have stepped up workplace sweeps
across the country and teamed up with a growing number of local forces to
train officers to enforce immigration laws.
Meanwhile, a bill seeking to offer many of the 12 million illegal immigrants
a path to legal status was tossed by the U.S. Congress, spurring many state
and local authorities to pass their own measures targeting illegal
immigrants.
The toughening environment has been coupled with a turndown in the U.S.
economy, which has tipped the balance toward self deportation for many
illegal immigrants left struggling to find work.
"It is still just a thought, although we are preparing to leave," said
Ernesto Garcia, a carpenter from Caborca in northwest Mexico, who stood in
line at the Mexican consulate in Phoenix this week for paperwork that will
allow him and his family to resume their lives south of the border.
PACKING THEIR BAGS
There is no tally of the number of illegal immigrants who have already left
the United States, many of whom simply head south over the border with their
belongings packed into a car during the annual Christmas exodus, or board
scheduled flights for other destinations.
Mexican consular sources in Phoenix say they are seeing a spike in the
number of immigrants applying for Mexican citizenship for their U.S.-born
children, which will allow them to enroll in schools in Mexico.
They are also seeing a rise in requests for papers enabling families to
carry household belongings back to Mexico, free of import duties.
Members of the Brazilian community in the U.S. northeast, meanwhile, say
they are starting to see an increase in the number of illegal immigrants
heading back to their homes in Brazil in recent months.
"They are beginning to put in the balance the constant fear of being
detained and deported, and many are deciding to leave," said Fausto Mendes
da Rocha, executive director of the Brazilian Immigrant Center in Boston.
Other returning immigrants cite a slowdown in the U.S. economy as a factor,
and the falling value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies, which has
eaten into the value of remittances sent to support families at home.
Aluisio Carvalho, 66, left a wife and four children behind in Brazil in 2001
when he set off to find work in Boston. Since then, he has managed to pay
for the education of his children by working in a restaurant, but is now
planning to leave himself in February
"Salaries are really low, and living costs are high. We also face too much
exploitation at work here, too many demands," he said.
MOVING WITHIN THE UNITED STATES
While some illegal immigrants are simply self deporting, others are moving
within the United States to avoid federal immigration raids and
pro-enforcement measures passed by a patchwork of state and local
authorities.
Among them are undocumented immigrants in Marshalltown, Iowa, where Mexicans
and Central Americans workers at a Swift & Co meatpacking plant were
arrested during coordinated immigration raids across six states a year ago
that netted hundreds of employees.
Moses Garcia, a U.S. citizen who came from Mexico 18 years ago and knew many
of the families affected by the 2006 raid through his church and real estate
work, said most of the workers have left to other states, not back to
Mexico.
"They feel like they are not welcome here," Garcia said. "They go to
Minnesota, Atlanta, Nebraska, California."
In Arizona, where some specially trained sheriff's deputies already enforce
immigration laws and a new state law sanctioning businesses hiring
undocumented workers is due to come in to effect January 1, many illegal
immigrants are eyeing a move to states they see as less hostile.
Among them is day laborer Fernando Gutierrez who trekked illegally into the
desert state 18 months ago from Mexico, and is now thinking of joining a
cousin working in Oregon in the Pacific northwest.
"Everyone lives in fear of the police stopping you for some minor infraction
and then asking for your papers," Gutierrez said as he touted for work in
the chill morning air at a Phoenix day labor site.
"I want to get as far away from here as possible."
Illegal Immigrants Self Deport as Woes Mount
Sunday, December 23, 2007
PHOENIX -- Mexican illegal immigrant Lindi sat down with her husband Marco
Antonio in the weeks before Christmas to decide when to go back to Mexico.
She has spent three years working as a hairdresser in and around Phoenix,
but now she figures it is time to go back to her hometown of Aguascalientes
in central Mexico.
"The situation has got so tough that there don't seem to be many options
left for us," Lindi, who asked for her last name not to be used, told
Reuters.
The couple are among a growing number of illegal immigrants across the
United States who are starting to pack their bags and move on as a crackdown
on undocumented immigrants widens and the U.S. economy slows, turning a
traditional Christmas trek home into a one-way trip.
In the past year, U.S. immigration police have stepped up workplace sweeps
across the country and teamed up with a growing number of local forces to
train officers to enforce immigration laws.
Meanwhile, a bill seeking to offer many of the 12 million illegal immigrants
a path to legal status was tossed by the U.S. Congress, spurring many state
and local authorities to pass their own measures targeting illegal
immigrants.
The toughening environment has been coupled with a turndown in the U.S.
economy, which has tipped the balance toward self deportation for many
illegal immigrants left struggling to find work.
"It is still just a thought, although we are preparing to leave," said
Ernesto Garcia, a carpenter from Caborca in northwest Mexico, who stood in
line at the Mexican consulate in Phoenix this week for paperwork that will
allow him and his family to resume their lives south of the border.
PACKING THEIR BAGS
There is no tally of the number of illegal immigrants who have already left
the United States, many of whom simply head south over the border with their
belongings packed into a car during the annual Christmas exodus, or board
scheduled flights for other destinations.
Mexican consular sources in Phoenix say they are seeing a spike in the
number of immigrants applying for Mexican citizenship for their U.S.-born
children, which will allow them to enroll in schools in Mexico.
They are also seeing a rise in requests for papers enabling families to
carry household belongings back to Mexico, free of import duties.
Members of the Brazilian community in the U.S. northeast, meanwhile, say
they are starting to see an increase in the number of illegal immigrants
heading back to their homes in Brazil in recent months.
"They are beginning to put in the balance the constant fear of being
detained and deported, and many are deciding to leave," said Fausto Mendes
da Rocha, executive director of the Brazilian Immigrant Center in Boston.
Other returning immigrants cite a slowdown in the U.S. economy as a factor,
and the falling value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies, which has
eaten into the value of remittances sent to support families at home.
Aluisio Carvalho, 66, left a wife and four children behind in Brazil in 2001
when he set off to find work in Boston. Since then, he has managed to pay
for the education of his children by working in a restaurant, but is now
planning to leave himself in February
"Salaries are really low, and living costs are high. We also face too much
exploitation at work here, too many demands," he said.
MOVING WITHIN THE UNITED STATES
While some illegal immigrants are simply self deporting, others are moving
within the United States to avoid federal immigration raids and
pro-enforcement measures passed by a patchwork of state and local
authorities.
Among them are undocumented immigrants in Marshalltown, Iowa, where Mexicans
and Central Americans workers at a Swift & Co meatpacking plant were
arrested during coordinated immigration raids across six states a year ago
that netted hundreds of employees.
Moses Garcia, a U.S. citizen who came from Mexico 18 years ago and knew many
of the families affected by the 2006 raid through his church and real estate
work, said most of the workers have left to other states, not back to
Mexico.
"They feel like they are not welcome here," Garcia said. "They go to
Minnesota, Atlanta, Nebraska, California."
In Arizona, where some specially trained sheriff's deputies already enforce
immigration laws and a new state law sanctioning businesses hiring
undocumented workers is due to come in to effect January 1, many illegal
immigrants are eyeing a move to states they see as less hostile.
Among them is day laborer Fernando Gutierrez who trekked illegally into the
desert state 18 months ago from Mexico, and is now thinking of joining a
cousin working in Oregon in the Pacific northwest.
"Everyone lives in fear of the police stopping you for some minor infraction
and then asking for your papers," Gutierrez said as he touted for work in
the chill morning air at a Phoenix day labor site.
"I want to get as far away from here as possible."
